Camberley RFC Under 11's

Inkberry Sponsorship

2010-11-14T15:55:00.003Z

A real high note of the season so far, has been the generous sponsorship provided by Inkberry.

Shirts have been provided to players who have been sporting their new clothing with real pride.

Thanks to Inkberry for this, it all helps towards providing a real group identity for the squad.

One for all and all for one!

November 2010

2010-11-14T15:46:00.003Z

We have had three friendlies since the festivals in October.

Each of the teams have had their successes where competitive play has been possible.

The Blacks have continued to be successful, winning games and not conceding more than 1 try in those games they did not win. Their most notable win was 8-0 against Guildford.

The Golds have continued to develop, they have had fewer games than the blacks due to other clubs we have played not having sufficient numbers to provide teams to play against. They have secured wins in some games, their best win being 5-2, again, against Guildford.

The Chiefs have also had a few competitive games against other clubs and ended their last encounter on a high by winning that game!

The Chieftans have continued to pick up the skills needed for the game. They have played as part of Barbars teams and although daunted have played well.

Well done everyone. Continue to enjoy.

October festivals

2010-11-14T15:27:00.004Z

Having played in the festivals in the first part of the season, we have not fared too badly.

The Blacks have had the greatest amount of success, winning the Bowl at Cobham and being runners up in our own festival. They have only conceded more than one try, in one game so far.

The Golds have shown solid improvement getting more wins under their belt as they develop into a greater team mentality and to trust one another more.

The Chiefs had their only outing this season in the Camberley B festival and have come on leaps and bounds, scoring tries in several of their games.

The Chieftans have come into existence during the festival season, as squad numbers have grown. Players are showing promise as they get to grips with the complexities of the great game of rugby.

Everyone has put in maximum effort and have enjoyed themselves. They have shown they have a real passion for the game with players getting visibly upset when their greatest of efforts have not secured the win they were playing for.

It is only a game, but with passion and effort and most importantly, the focus on enjoyment we have been having a really great time.

Sunday 19 September 2010

2010-09-20T20:23:00.001+01:00

We had the first of our bonding sessions which was a huge success with players, coaches and parents and was much admired by other members of the club.

We even got a write up on the News page of the main website!

Sunday 7 February - Windsor

2010-02-07T16:45:00.003Z

Unfortunately Wimbledon cancelled the triangular we had booked due to a waterlogged pitch.

Windsor however, agreed for us to go and have a friendly with them. Hooray to Windsor.

There were joint warm up and mixed drills with the Windsor players - some would have warranted being filmed as they did all their stretches etc as watching the players go through their paces was fun to watch (especially when the coaches joined in to demonstrate the moves).

After the drills, two teams were put together to play each other. The Blacks played two timed games and the Golds played one super long game. Everyone played well and seemed to not only remember what to do in a game against another team, but did it well. The Golds stormed through for a 5-0 win, working well together as a team. The Blacks were more evenly matched and although the results were 5-4 and 2-2 the Blacks played very well, warming up into their rucking and mauling as play progressed.

Next week - training at home

Sunday 31 January - Training

2010-02-07T16:38:00.003Z

That Jack Frost has been busy again and the ground was too hard to play any contact rugby. This is the second successive week where we have had a new player turn up and want to sign up after their first session. The backs and forwards split up with time spent on the scrummaging machine and passing play. Games of touch rugby were played at the end.

Next week we are at Wimbledon for a triangular with Old Ruts.

Sunday 24 January - Training

2010-02-07T16:34:00.003Z

The weather conditions were perfect. The snow had thawed and the ground was nice and soft - great for falling on. The sun even came out. We just played game after game to remember what this rugby thing was all about after so many cancellations. Everyone had a lovely time.

Sunday 17 January - Haslemere

2010-02-07T16:33:00.002Z

Snow stopped play. Again! Inches of the stuff!

Sunday 10 January - Wimbledon & Guildford

2010-02-07T16:31:00.002Z

Snow stopped play.

Sunday 3 January 2010 - Training

2010-02-07T16:27:00.003Z

The ground was very hard with the frost and so training concentrated on skills which avoided falling on the ground. This included passing, scrummaging and line outs. There was not a huge turn out, but it was good to get out and run off some of that Christmas turkey.

Happy New Year to everyone.

Sunday 20 December - Training

2010-02-07T16:26:00.002Z

Cancelled due to waterlogged pitches

Sunday 13 December - Bracknell at home

2009-12-13T20:23:00.003Z

Bracknell came to us with similar numbers which made for balanced sessions with the drills and games at the end.

Warm up drills started before 10am for players as they arrived to keep everyone moving and to try and prevent players getting cold. By 10am we were already running the session drills which involved passing and competing for the ball. The latter drill involved having a little lie down on the ground before leaping up to compete with the opposing player!?

With the numbers being fairly equal, two teams were fielded with substitutes, so everyone got game time against Bracknell. The Blacks played the Bracknell A team and the Golds played the Bracknell B team. The A's played well, competing for the ball with solid tackling and strong play in the ruck/maul situation. The Blacks won all three of their games - well done.

The Golds were fairly evenly matched against the Bracknell B team, but due to too many missed tackles and not being as quick to the ball at the breakdown missed out on a victory of their own in their two games played. Keep at them Golds!

With the change in temperature too many players suffered from the cold. The knocks and bangs that were suffered smarted the more for the cold too. It shouldn't need to be said, but plenty of layers (under the shirt and shorts), gloves, hats etc are now the order for the day.

Next week - London Irish (probably at home)

Sunday 6 December 2009 - Farnham and KCS at home

2009-12-13T20:19:00.004Z

Unfortunately the weather has defeated us and all fixtures for this triangular meet, hosted at both Camberley and Kings, were cancelled due to waterlogged pitches.

Next week at home with Bracknell visiting.

Sunday 29 November 2009 - Reeds and Richmond

2009-12-13T20:08:00.004Z

Well all those that finally got there, made it even with the A3 slip road being closed after an accident. The weather was highly dubious and when the confirmation came through at 8am to say it was on the wet weather gear was packed and off we set. As it happened the rain stayed away for pretty much the whole time we were there. For those who did stay for a drink afterwards, well, those got wet on the inside and out, serves them right for such indulgence!

Anyway, the last time we met both Reeds and Richmond, was at the Reeds festival several weeks beforehand where we had a real wake up call and failed to score a single try and lost all our games. Hard work by the players and the coaches since then meant that much of that lost ground was made up and we were able to make a stand against both Reeds and Richmond. We didn't manage to win all our games, and did in fact lose more than we did win, but we were definately a force to be reckoned with. We had skills in some areas of play which were much better that those of any of our opponents, we just need to work on some of the other areas. Who knows, we may be winning all our games against all oncomers.

Sunday 22 November - training

2009-11-25T20:48:00.001Z

Training was a very wet affair and by 11am the whole club had abandoned training. We hope everyone dried off at home and took advantage of the extra hour to do other things.

Sunday 15 November

2009-11-25T20:46:00.003Z

The away friendly at Chipstead was cancelled due to their waterlogged grounds, so training at home. As it turned out the weather was very pleasant, albeit the ground was a bit moist. A muddy time was had by all, well.... by all the players anyway.

Sunday 8 November - Redingensians at home

2009-11-08T21:24:00.004Z

We had Redingensians visit us at home and it was lovely to start our friendlies this season with such a nice bunch.

This weekend was also Remembrance Sunday and it was quite a spectacle to see everyone at Watchetts ground follow the two minutes silence. It helps make a new generation aware of the sacrifices that generations have made before them.

Anyway back to rugby, we had a warm up session all together and then split into our clubs to run the same drills so that the players can continue to be familiar with their own team mates as well as learning skills. Plenty of time was left at the end to play some friendly games. We had three teams which had the opportunity to play at least one game against the Redingensians teams. Everyone played well, but after some strong driving play, this helped us to win 5 out of the 6 games played. Well done Camberley! Tuesday night training will continue to practice the tackle, mauling and rucking to build on the great play we have seen today.

Next Sunday - away at Chipstead.

Sunday 18 October - Camberley festival

2009-10-18T20:07:00.004+01:00

Wow, again, if you have already read the match report on the main web page.

The boys played fantastically today. We identified that the players could be more competitive last week , they obviously all read these comments as they were definately more competitive today. They were tackling, mauling and rucking all in the same game. Head coach Steve, as he watches a Heinekin cup game, commented that apart from little things like kicking, he can't see that much difference in the play that happened today.

Our tackling held teams at bay and stopped them breaking through and scoring tries. Our players were stepping over in the ruck and stopping the ball being turned over. As for our mauling, the Golds, in their plate final, pushed the Drifters backwards from near the halfway line back to their try line.

Competitive - that we were. Well done to the players as it was they who played the games and played them well. Brilliant!

Next week - Sunday training at home. No training this Tuesday or half term Tuesday.

Sunday 11 October - Reeds A and Wimbledon B festival

2009-10-11T20:34:00.003+01:00

Please see the match reports on the main Camberley U9s web site where match reports will now be posted.

We would have liked a better result from the two festivals, and have noted areas where we can improve our competiveness against other teams going forward. For players and parents (and coaches and managers) it is a much more positive feeling to win more games. The players enjoyed themselves nonetheless and we hope to take things from our first competitive matches that we can we can apply to our festivals next weekend. Indeed we achieved a better result in the Wimbledon Bs festival than we acheived last year.

Next week we host our A and B festival at Camberley. Please note we will be playing at Watchetts school and there is a strict no dogs policy in the school grounds.

September training to 12 September

2009-09-13T19:44:00.006+01:00

Well, we are now training for contact rugby and the players seem to have been waiting for the summer to end so the tackling can start. We have the joy of tackles, scrums, line outs, rucks, mauls, oh the list is endless of all the new things to be learnt. It may be uncontested scrums etc and there is no kicking as yet, but this is real rugby now. The coaches have been working hard to teach the players all these new skills and then practice them in playing games in each training session. It's scary how some of the players are so focussed on getting their man that they seem to fly through the air. Also, now we are playing 'real' rugby parents seem to concentrate on the games much more at the sidelines. It's great, if the players can focus during training sessions and enjoy what they are doing, then let's hope we can do well when we get to play other teams and get to tackle people who aren't our friends within our own squad.

We have also had 4 new players joining in on training sessions, with a couple more waiting in the wings to join, and this is before we even reach 'Try Rugby' weekend at the end of September.

Now we have started tackling, although the weather has been nice, I can't help thinking should we be doing rain dances to make the ground a bit softer for the players - not that they seem to have noticed!

2009/10 Season

2009-08-10T20:56:00.003+01:00

Training starts on Sunday 6 September 2009 from 10am until midday. There will also be training on Tuesday evenings from 6.30pm-7.30pm. Both training sessions will be at Watchetts Recreational ground. Gumshields must be worn.

Sunday 17 May - summer training

2009-05-17T12:33:00.007+01:00

This was the first of the summer training sessions to be held. There were heavy showers at the start of training and only 7 players showed they were not faint hearted and still keen to train whatever the weather. They were a mix of our most seasoned players across to our newest member. A game of touch was played to warm up as the rain poured down, but when the rain got really heavy a halt was called and a nearby tree used for shelter. After half an hour however the sun came out and the still eagre players were able to shed several layers down to their shirts (and even the shirt came off for one player). Drills focussed on passing skills and practising called moves so that the players knew what their team mates were doing. We finished off with another game of touch rugby, including line outs and scrums. To make up the numbers one player's older sister joined in for her first rugby experience and enjoyed it so much she is considering joining the under 11s next season!

Well done to all those that braved the showers.

To note, the clubhouse now plans to be open every day over the summer, weekends and weekdays, therefore coffees, teas etc will be available for all training sessions.

Next week training again, 10am to 11.30 ish.

Sunday 26 April - Fun Day

2009-05-01T20:57:00.004+01:00

And the sun shone (which is more than it did last year). Fun rugby games were played. The first game was a crab foot rugby game thing, which I took photos of, but doesn't really demonstrate how odd it looked with all the kids shuffling around on their bottoms. Then there was a game of rugby rounders (now I know that there was at least one disappointed dad that they weren't asked to join in). We then took advantage of the fact that we had the whole pitch and really tried to tire the players out by playing a capture the flag along the length of the whole pitch. I have absolutely no idea who won, or what the rules were, or what exactly they were really trying to achieve - perhaps I had to be 8 to understand this. The squad all then finished up playing a game on a full pitch, with full rugby rules (ish) except for contact, We had kicking, we had throw ins and we had conversions. And still they weren't tired out. So we gave in and had the awards ceremony, everyone got a medal and each coach awarded one of the trophies. Well done to everyone, every medal and trophy has been well earned.

To finish it off, there was a coaches/managers vs Dads game, refereed by the players. The referee I felt was a bit strict, but was firmly supported by his assistant referee, touch judge and many supporting co-mates. There were cries of forward pass, off side - but surely not, we were grown ups and wouldn't dream of doing such things even if it was largely by error. I am pleased to say that in the last play of the game, the coaches/managers were victorious - which is of course was how it should be (in my opinion!). There were photos taken of the game which will hopefully be available for public viewing soon.

Out of season training agreed so far will be on Sundays 17 May, 24 May, 14 June and 28 June. 10am for 1.5-2 hours.

Sunday 19 April - Surrey A festival

2009-04-22T21:11:00.008+01:00

The sun shone for the festival today. There were 24 teams competing, spread across 8 pools of three teams. Our first game was against Richmond who we played at Effingham and Leatherhead. We kept them in their own half for much of the first part of the game and were competitive ending the half with the score 2-2. However in the second half we didn't maintain this pressure and, unfortunately went behind and lost. Our second game was much better, we won! Passing and tagging was good and we looked much more switched on. This placed us second in our group and put us through into the plate competition. We had a 1.5 hour wait until our quarter final. In this game, due to errors and the resulting turnover ball, we lost by one try, but it was a really close game and one we could and should have won. As in many of our festivals, we receive compliments about our passing ability, but due to simple errors we then lose this advantage. Some of these errors included dropped passes (ambitious passing) and too many steps after a tag - next season having to count steps, count seconds or not hearing the referee shout 'Tag' will not be a problem, as a tackle will be a tackle and the player will be on the floor.

It's not just the players who are looking forward to tackling next season to avoid these frustrations.

Next week is the Fun day. Hopefully everyone can make it. There will be food, drink and games. Parents wear your trainers (sorry a late warning by the time I got this published).

Sunday 12 April - Easter Sunday

2009-04-22T21:07:00.002+01:00

No rugby today. I predict that lots of chocalate has been eaten instead.

Sunday 5 April 2009 - training

2009-04-22T20:53:00.003+01:00

Well, this was the last full training session of the season. Drills were followed that concentrated on passing, communication and maintaining position. These were even obvious to the parents as being good all round drills. Also, albeit we are at the end of the Season nearly, we had a new player turn up to join us.

With the forthcoming Surrey A festival, we played some tag rugby to help in preparation. This will be the last competitive tag festival we play in, after that it will be full contact. Not that the players seem to be looking forward to this in any way!

Next week is Easter Sunday - everyone can have a weekend off.

Sunday 29 March 2009 - Effingham & Leatherhead festival

2009-03-29T20:27:00.004+01:00

Wow the players just get better and better.

After a super performance last weekend the squads have gone on to show that they can play even better and greater rugby. The play today has been, without a doubt, the best the players have produced yet. The blacks won two out of three of their games in their pool and got into the semi finals play off. Their play just seemed to improve, game by game, matching the play of Richmond in their semi final in what was really a very close match.

And the golds were in the plate semi final. They pulled out all the stops in their semi final and without the luxury of any substitutes by this stage, they played their best game and were close to securing a place in the plate final by the matter of one try.

If you check out the photos of the festival you can see how the players have their eye on where the ball is and are there in support. It is a team game after all and the players were really pulling together.

I think an appreciation should be registered for the coaches too, as not only have they brought us to being here, but their skilled and unbiased refereeing was obviously also well valued, as we were requested to referee in two of the finals for both the A and B festivals.

After the high of the last two weeks, we are training at home next week.

Sunday 22 March - Surrey Development festival

2009-03-22T18:58:00.005Z

Those of you who were at the festival today, may have noticed the water bottles we were able to bring on at half time. These have been funded from further sponsorship from RBS, courtesey of Tracie Dugmore. The funds secured will also be used to purchase new poles and more water bottles to cover the whole squad as we hope to enter A, B and C festivals next season. We should not forget that the sponsorship from RBS has already paid for the two day tents we use at festivals and of course the sponsorship from BOC, which paid for the squad jackets. Many thanks to Tracie & Antony Dugmore and RBS & BOC for these funds which have benefitted the players.

Anway, turning to today, we were lucky enough to be able to enter two teams in the festival, and this gave the opportunity for everyone in the whole squad, who was available, to be able to take part in the Surrey festivals. For some of our players this was their first festival attendance a matter of weeks after joining Camberley Rugby club.

The Black and Golds squads played in separate pools. Although the Golds did not achieve any victories in their pool, they did score tries in every game, something not all the teams were able to do. This is something to be held as an achievement as it showed we did break through the defences where others could not. In their last game, they held out well against their opponents who repeatedly turned over the ball, but unfortunately we were not able to take full advantage of this. We turned over the ball ourselves and so need to concentrate on skills of accurate passing and catching which we can carry through to next season.

The Blacks had a little more success; in winning their first game 8-4 they demonstrated some good play - solid defending, support and passing of the ball. In their second game, they fought back from being 3-0 down at half time to bring the score back to 3-3 and lost out on the final play of the match to go down 3-4. In the last two games our play did not demonstrate the same levels of accomplishment and due to small mistakes, that resulted in turnover ball, we lost these games too. Again errors in passing and catching contributed. These are core skills and players need to concentrate on passing accurately and keeping hold of the ball. Support is also vital.

Next week we have another festival at Effingham and Leatherhead. For those who remember last year, we can only hope that conditions and the weather are better - this however would not be difficult!

Sunday 15 March - at home

2009-03-16T21:02:00.005Z

Today we had Newbury visiting. As part of the arrangements for Newbury's visit, we sought further clarification on when we can introduce training for the tackle and, contrary to the advice we had received previously, were given a revised date of September 2009!! Whilst we will clearly alter our coaching plans because of this we intend to continue playing games of touch.

Anyway, we had fantastic weather which was lovely for everyone. Training started with games of tag and then went into drills which concentrated on maintaining position and passing. Games of tag were then played against Newbury. Where we played full strength Newbury squads we won two games, drew one and lost one, which is great. We also played a Bar-bars team, meaning that everyone got a chance to play. All our players did well, running hard, taking tags and using the space available - well done, keep it up.

The next two weekends we have festivals and so there will be no training for those that are not selected. Sunday 22 March is the Surrey Development festival, held at Watchetts - everyone is welcome to come along and support those playing; there will be at least 4 players there just to cheer our two teams on. Sunday 29 March is the Effingham & Leatherhead festival. Again supporters are welcome, but it is obviously that bit more distant. Coaches have fingers crossed for better weather this year. Bring waterproofs just in case.

Sunday 8 March - training

2009-03-08T14:46:00.004Z

Well, as planned, we played a full contact rugby game today. Beforehand drills were practised which covered passing the ball, the tackle and srummaging. But as said, we played full contact rugby today! Each time play stopped, bodies were picked up off the pitch, there were bruises, bumps, scrapes etc in abundance and even one minor blood injury. Did it put the players off? Well, the general consensus seems to be that it was fantastic fun. From a spectators point of view it is a much more interesting game to watch than a tag rugby game.

From back at the beginning of the season, we practised falling over, and today there were few, if any, instances of arms being put out to break the fall which is good, as this should avoid injuries. Some tackles were above the armpits, and so were high, this will need to be worked on. Players could also offload sooner, but this will hopefully become more natural, in the attempt to avoid being tackled and so save the pain.

Next week we are at home with Newbury visiting (so no full contact games I'm afraid)

Sunday 1 March - home to Petersfield

2009-03-01T17:05:00.003Z

We are now into the final couple of months of the season and our drills continue to be focussed on training for the tackle. We had Petersfield visiting and after some decision making drills to make both attacking and defending teams react to different situations in which all players took part, we then split into Camberley and Petersfield groups to focus on different tackling drills. Camberley continued to train for making the tackle on the move, whereas Petersfield concentrated on learning how to fall safely.

Games of touch were played at the start of the session and at the end. Camberley played well against Petersfield winning one game and drawing the other (albeit we had the majority of the possession), with some players now applying skills more applicable to a contact game. The core skills of accurate passing, catching and staying on side still need to be improved for some players to reduce the instances of turnover ball however. This said, the skills shown today across the squad, show players getting the ball away quickly after the tackle and this is getting better week on week! Well done.

Next week - training at home.

Sunday 22 February 2009 - training and festival

2009-02-22T15:11:00.005Z

Today the squad was split between training at home and a mini festival at Redingensians.

Training continued with the basics of the tackle, which was an initial introduction for some of our players. Touch rugby was also played, with some good play being shown.

At the festival, there were two other visiting teams. We won one game but did lose the others. This does not necessarily reflect on how we played, as we did show some good play and it was a close call on at least one of those games we did not win. In particular we held our line and passed well. We do, however, need to be more consistent in this and be more aggressive in our defence to win more games. One thing that was noticeable, on those odd occasions that our players did go to ground after being tagged, they were automatically rolling away from the ball and pushing it backwards - a good indicator for next season!

Next week we are at home with Petersfield visiting.

Sunday 15 February - training

2009-02-21T19:36:00.004Z

Watchetts was again unplayable this Sunday and so we used our alternative training location out at Bagshot. We were outside this week and conditions were actually very good, with the ground being nice and soft.

We continued training for the tackle and played a game where the tackle was used. Also in advance of the festival next Sunday, we finished with a game of tag, in which the players seem to enjoy the ability to run more freely.

Next week - Redingensians festival and training at home

Sunday 8 February 2008

2009-02-09T20:03:00.004Z

Old Ruts friendly was cancelled due to poor pitch conditions after the snow and Watchetts was not available to train on for the same reason. However we have now secured some indoor training facilities and these were put to good use. One of the real big benefits that came out of this, was being able to use the available TV/DVD to help demonstrate the correct positioning for tackles and scrummaging to the players. This seemed to be really beneficial and soft gym mats were also available and used to practice what had been seen.

Training at home next week

Sunday 1 February 2009

2009-02-09T19:54:00.003Z

Today we had Cobham visiting us for a friendly. As in previous weeks touch rugby was played as a warm up and in the final games. Also this being February, we were able to start training for the Tackle, to prepare for next season and contact rugby. A bit of scrummaging was also tried for the first time.

The weather was very cold, with a minus chill factor with the wind, but I am pleased to say that I think that without exception, all the Camberley players were well wrapped up.

Next week we are due to visit Old Ruts.

Sunday - 25 January

2009-01-25T20:16:00.004Z

We were at home with Haslemere visiting us today. We have continued focussing on touch rugby and did this as the warm up and for the games at the end. Other drills ended up with all the players getting extremely muddy. Thank you to Haslemere for coming to us in such damp conditions.

Due to the wet conditions, the falling over and the wind, some of the players got very cold however. This has meant they might not have enjoyed the sessions as much as they could. It is therefore important that parents provide enough layers for the players, preferably with hats and gloves so that they don't get cold. Remember PLAYER LAYERS!

As of next week, we can begin training for contact rugby and will start learning how to tackle. As stated by e-mail and by the coaches, players must wear gum shields and clothing (especially trousers, sweat pants, etc) that have no zips to be allowed to participate in this part of the training. This is for the players own safety and for those that they will be learning to tackle.

Next week we are at home again, with Cobham visiting.

Sunday 11 January

2009-01-14T09:55:00.003Z

Today was originally to be a traingular at Maidenhead with Windsor. This was cancelled due to concerns over Maidenheads pitches.

Training at home was then also cancelled after an early morning pitch inspection by one of the coaches.

Next week we are away at Guildford for another triangular with Wimbledon.

Sunday 4 January 2009 - Training

2009-01-04T14:07:00.004Z

I try to avoid commenting on the weather all the time, but it was really cold today. It was minus 5°C when the coaches first arrived and even they had donned trousers to keep warm, except for David, who was obviously more hardy than most (or should that be foolhardy?).

Despite the ground being hard it was agreed that as this was a training session that, with care, we could still continue. After some warm ups and running around, a game of touch rugby was played, with shouts of 'pass' and 'sit' echoing around the pitch. This was followed up by some drills to emphasise some of the points that arose out of the play, finishing again with another game of touch rugby.

The second game was more fluid than the first, with more passing happening without so much prompting. From a spectators point of view, it looked more like a real game of rugby you see on the tv.

Next week we are away in Maidenhead.

Sunday 28 December - Training

2009-01-02T12:17:00.005Z

We had a bit of a fun session today, playing games such as rugby rounders which some of the parents could join in with. It didn't matter that the parents/coaches could kick the ball further, they were still prone to having their kick's caught and so getting out. It's surprising how competitive the grown ups are!

We also had a go at touch rugby which proved an interesting exercise and demonstrated the importance of passing the ball before being tackled.

There were mince pies for everyone - sorry to those who didn't like mincemeat.

Training at home next week.

Sunday 21 December - Training

2008-12-21T15:58:00.005Z

This was our first training session since October. Whilst it has been good to visit other teams and have them visit us, it was quite nice to be a bit more relaxed and just concentrate on us for a change. Player numbers were down a little due to Christmas and holiday commitments (some as far afield as Australia!). Warm ups and drills consisted of lots of running and revisited basic skills, with the final session being one big game with all the players on the pitch concentrating on space, passing and the defensive line. As we have been seeing over the past few weeks there is some good play being exhibited as more team play is being demonstrated. Excellent!

We hope every one has a great Christmas and for those who are around and need to run off the chocolate and Chistmas Pudding (coaches we're not only thinking of you!) there is a fun training session on Sunday 28 December 2008 at 10am. See you there for a bit of fresh air.

Sunday 14 December

2008-12-13T20:00:00.002Z

No training today, due to waterlogged grounds.

See you all next week for a training session at home.

Sunday 7 December - at home with Farnham

2008-12-07T20:00:00.004Z

It was really nice to be at home this week, and we will be now for the rest of the year. It was a bright crisp start with a concern that the ground would be too hard to play on, but the sun came out and together with some running warm ups, the ground softened and we were able to continue safely.

Farnham were visiting and brought a good number of players with them and so we ended up with 60+ for training and games. The training session was an active one to keep the players warm and included passing and defensive drills. We then went on to play games with four teams from each club and each team played 3 games apiece. We had mixed results with wins, draws and losses. The Blacks had the best result with no losses out of their 3 games. This seemed to have been helped by them playing more as a team, together with some good passing play and looking for space - well done. This said, within the other teams there was also some good individual play, but dropped passes and other mistakes close to the try line gave the advantage to our opponents at critical times. Thanks to Farnham coming over, we had a good session today and hope they did too.

Next week we are at home with Chipstead visiting.

For anyone wondering how the fun festival went at Sutton and Epsom on 6 December, this was cancelled.

Sunday 29 November 2008 - Away at Bracknell

2008-11-30T15:26:00.004Z

This was the last of our five away games on the trot. We had a warm welcome from Bracknell on a cold wet day. We had a short warm-up/drills session before playing three games against each other, we had some wins and some losses. In concentrating on certain aspects of our game we improved our performance over that of previous weeks. We still need to concentrate on playing as a team to help the team achieve success and get more wins under our (tag) belts.

One thing that has become clear now that the weather has become colder is the need to be wrapped up warm at the start of the training sessions to avoid players getting too cold and unable to keep going later. Can we recommend hats, fingerless gloves, trousers (waterproof is good) with plenty of layers on top. Clothing can always be shed if players become too warm.

Next week we are at HOME (yippee) and have a friendly against Farnham.

Before next Sunday we have the friendly festival at Sutton and Epsom on Saturday 6 December. Details of this will fillow by e-mail.

Sunday 23 November 2008

2008-11-28T19:48:00.005Z

Thank you to all those that made it to Redingensians, I think the squad jackets really came into their own and got a good trial re their waterproof qualities. I am pleased to report the rain was repelled and rugby shirts were kept dry.

We ended up with a short session of a quick warm up and drills before launching into a game. There are no results to report as we helped make up the Redingensians numbers so two teams could be played. We did squeeze in the one game before the session was abandoned. For those that did not rush off, hot dogs were enjoyed by all the players courtesy of the Redingensians - thank you.

You'll also be pleased to know I was overjoyed to take home the wet muddy kit to dry it out and remove the worst of the mud ready for next week.

This Sunday we are away at Bracknell, details of how to get there have already been circulated. See you there.

Sunday 16 November - Away at Chobham

2008-11-16T15:15:00.006Z

We had a triangular meet at Chobham today with Effingham & Leatherhead also in attendance. There were loads of players, stretching as far as the eye could see during their warm up exercises. Camberley contributing 25 players to all this. The players were split into small groups after the warm up, to have some time spent on drills, before matches were played.

Disappointingly, despite some flashes of very good play, we did not manage to keep this standard up for an entire game and so failed to get a single victory under our belt. Basics of running straight, maintaining the defensive line, keeping in position and playing as a team were not always followed. Balls got turned over and so gave the advantage to our opponents. We have another two away fixtures before we have some training at home to be able to focus and work on areas where, with consistent improvement, should turn our game around.

It was good to see many of the players turning up sporting their jackets, paid for with the sponsorship from BOC. Everyone looked proud to be wearing them (and looked very smart of course).

Next week we are away to Redingensians, which is in Sonning, close to Reading. See you there.

Sunday 9 November - Away at Sutton and Epsom

2008-11-09T19:06:00.004Z

Today was Remembrance Sunday, which we recognised with a two minutes silence whilst at Sutton and Epsom. Albeit some of the players were attending church services in recognition of this and so unable to come to rugby, we still had over twenty players travel to Sutton and Epsom for training and friendly matches.

There was more falling over and getting muddy training in 'station' sessions, as we had at Dorking. We had three teams playing against Dorking teams and won some games, but lost others, with good passages of play shown. Well done Camberley.

The other important event to note was, the distribution of waterproof, fleece lined, Camberley Rugby Football Club jackets to our players. This was due to the generous sponsorship obtained by Anthony Dugmore from his employers BOC. This will help keep the players warm as the season progresses. THANK YOU very much. This sponsorship is in addition to that already obtained by Tracie Dugmore from RBS, which paid for the tents that we use at the festivals.

Next week we are away at Chobham.

Sunday 2 November - Away at Dorking

2008-11-02T19:25:00.004Z

We had a wonderful welcome from Dorking today, the two squads were well matched in number with just over twenty players each. Four drills were completed at four separate 'stations' that the mixed players rotated between. Each station had a coach from each club working together with the players. One drill looked forward to next season and involved falling over (in the mud) to learn the skills of how to be tackled - 'cheek to cheek' is a key point to remember here.

We ended with playing three concurrent games against each other, in which we were successful in winning two out of the three. Well done!

Afterwards, some of the coaches from both Dorking and Camberley met together in the bar to share thoughts on how the training had gone and to share experiences and coaching tips.

Next week we are away at Sutton and Epsom.

Sunday 26 October

2008-10-26T18:03:00.006Z

Today was a training day and irrespective of the rain, we had a good turn out (and with another new face). Though it was damp, it was still quite mild and the players seemed to keep warm without too much trouble. Training concentrated on improving our game play following on from the last three weekends of festivals. The first drill, which was a new one, involved a lot of running and brought in some competitiveness that seem to be enjoyed by all. The drills went on for a bit longer than usual, before a couple of games were played, each team playing against two others giving players the opportunity to test themselves against different players.

There are now no more festivals until into 2009 and so if the full squad are able to turn up each week we would have about 40 players every time.

The next five weeks are away friendly games, the first one being Dorking. Weather forecasts are for the weather to turn very cold during the coming week and those who have been to Dorking before, will remember it as a very exposed site. Remember to have lots of layers to keep the players warm, not forgetting a waterproof layer if the weather looks to be damp.

Sunday 19 October

2008-10-19T18:05:00.005+01:00

Well, we had the last of our three festival weekends, with wins for both the Black and Gold squads.

It was a long old day with the tents being put up shortly after 8 am in the morning, with most of the coaches there by 8.45am and then not getting away until 4pm due to assisting with refereeing and touch judging the semi finals and finals (Thanks). Thank you also to all those parents who volunteered for this festival with parking and pitch marshalling etc.

As said, both Blacks and Golds won a game, but lost their other two games. Within their pools both were placed third out of the four teams. One more win or draw could have placed both in the semi finals. The team that did best against both squads were Windsor, who went on to win both the A and B festival for the under 8's.

Golds played really well and the margin of their results was much narrower than at the Wimbledon festival the week before, so well done. Good support play and straighter runs were a feature of their play. Blacks played well too, with similar margins in their games, but did not seem to play to their full potential as a team, not displaying the same coherence that was seen at the Cobham festival. A win for both teams is an improvement and are results we can seek to build on in the festivals we attend later in the season.

Next week we have training at home, before a run of planned away games, which will include some of the teams we have met in these recent festivals.

Sunday 12 October

2008-10-13T20:35:00.005+01:00

The sun shone for the B's festival at Wimbledon, and for the training held back at Camberley.

The opposition were tough at the Wimbledon festival and in our group we drew one game but lost the other three. Simple errors leading to the ball being turned over were the difference but we also showed skills that we can build and improve on, to do better next time.

In training at Camberley, drills were run that followed on from the previous weeks festival and to train in areas where it was identified we may not be as strong as we would like to be.

We continue to enjoy ourselves but, look forward to being more successful and increase our enjoyment even more with some wins under our belt.

Sunday 5 October

2008-10-05T19:16:00.002+01:00

There is one word that amply encompasses the Cobham festival, and that is Wet! It did not let off raining for the duration of the time we were there. Many thanks to Tracie Dugmore and the sponsorship she obtained from RBS to purchase the two tents. they were well used today. Much appreciated.

At the festival other team coaches were overheard saying that we had the best handling skills of all the teams, which is fantastic, and this is an excellent commendation to the skills of our players, well done. In addition to this we scored some storming tries, did some good support play and made good use of the space. Disappointingly, we did not win any of our three games, but drew one and lost two. However this said, all these games were high scoring and in those games we did lose it was only by one or two tries. We will take note of what we did well and build on those areas where we can continue to improve.

We wish good rugby and good luck for the festival next weekend.

Saturday 4 October

2008-10-05T19:05:00.002+01:00

Training was good on Saturday. The rain held off and being the only squad training we had lots of space to use. Turnout was good based on other commitments players had on Saturdays, with half the squad turning out. Drills included work on tagging, looking for space and passing. We even had one new player turn up to see what we were all about. Tomorrow is the first of the festivals with a poor weather forecast predicted so plenty of layers and waterproofs are the order of the day.

Blog update

2008-09-30T21:41:00.002+01:00

To note, I have changed the site the squad song is linked from.

Sunday 28 September

2008-09-28T20:37:00.002+01:00

The sun shone on us again today. Training continued, as in the past weeks, based on practising core skills which included the old favourite of British Bulldog. We continue to have new players turning up each week to try out rugby with us which is great. For the next three weeks, as announced, there are the three festivals running which includes our home festival on 19 October where it is expected there will be 1,440 players taking part!

Albeit the weather has been good to us over the past couple of weeks, please make sure that if the weather does turn more inclement over the next few weeks, to make sure that everyone is wrapped up warm. Please see last weeks entry for points to note on attending festivals.

Sunday 21 September

2008-09-21T16:19:00.004+01:00

Today was Try Rugby day and we had a few new faces turn up today to see what we are up to and join in the the Under 8's training session - we hope to see them next week having enjoyed an initial taster. Todays training built on last weeks in concentrating on the core skills that are so important in being able to play a good game of rugby. We had good weather again and while we often give reminders about wrapping the players up well against the cold weather, when we do have the good weather don't forget to bring plenty of fluids to hydrate the kids as they do do a lot of running around and get very hot (this will probably mean that I have tempted fate and next week will not be so warm).

The main website page should be updated soon to have the photos and names of all the coaches and managers who are involved with the Under 8's squad so you can put a name to a face of those involved in running the squad. If you have any queries then please grab someone and we will be pleased to help.

Having had three weeks of training and with three competitive festivals starting from Sunday 5 October, the teams will be selected during the next week and the selections communicated to you. Can we ask you to take note of the following points with regards to attendance at these festivals:

Make sure the kids have plenty of fluids and some food with them (try and avoid burgers etc on the day until we have finished playing. Light sandwiches, fruit etc makes more sense)
Bring layers of clothing - they need to stay warm and dry between matches - this is your responsibility
Make sure they pack gumshields
Please check their studs, and if in any doubt replace them. They need to have proper rugby studs - most sports/ school uniform shops supply them and they are a few quid for a pack.
Cost is £6 per player for the festival.

Sunday 14 September

2008-09-14T13:32:00.005+01:00

Well, we had glorious sunshine for training today. There was a great turnout with 31 kids turning up. One of the drills included taking on a tackle bag which the children seemed to enjoy. In the second half of training there was some excellent rugby played with some straight running, good passing and a good use of space - well done! We have two more Sundays of training before we have three weekends of competitive fesitivals. The planned teams for the festivals will get announced during the week after next Sunday's training.

The third festival on 19 October, is the one that Camberley host and so, as normal we will need volunteers for parking, pitch marshalling etc. Please let Mike know ahead of our normal request for helpers if you are able to take on any of these posts.

Lastly as part of building team spirit we have decided to adopt the song 'Black and Gold' by Sam Sparro as the 'squad song'. We hope to be playing this at training sessions and festivals as a bit of fun for everyone to get into a good team spirit. There is a link to this song and video at this page (please note this is a direct link to 'Youtunes' web site if you would like to monitor access to this paarticular web address).

Sunday 7 September

2008-09-07T16:33:00.002+01:00

This was the first day of training of the 2008/09 season. There was a good turn out and training consisted of playing practice matches and building on skills leant in the previous season. The weather held good, but the good news was that due to sponsorship won by Tracie Dugmore from RBS, we now have two tents we can use to shelter players (and maybe even parents) when the weather is a little more inclement.

Welcome

2008-09-07T15:59:00.000+01:00

Hi and welcome. The aim of this blog is to keep all informed about matters that relate specifically to the under 8's squad. So don't forget to visit this site regularly to get up to date information on what has happened and what is going on.

The LINKS section on the right shows some useful links you may wish to check out.

Recent news appears as the latest post (at top of page).

If you want to send us feedback, feel free to use the Comments link on each post.